Quality of life in children with strabismus / Qualidade de vida em crianças com estrabismo

ABSTRACT Purpose: To evaluate the quality of life of children with strabismus and understand their consequences in the functional and psychosocial aspects of the childhood. Methods: A semi-structured interview adapted of Adult Strabismus-20 questionnaire was conducted with parents or the legal responsible person of children aged between 3 and 13 years old attended at the public health care. A likert-scale of five points was used to measure the impact of strabismus in childhood, from psychosocial and functional aspects. Results: 97 children were included in the study. 61,4% of the children had esotropia (ET), while 35.9% had exotropia (XT). In each group, the magnitude of deviation was classified in smaller (<) or equal/greater (≥) then 30 prismatic diopters. When analyzing the functional and the psychosocial scores of the groups separated by the type of strabismus and magnitude of deviation, the average score of the group with esotropia and the patients with larger deviations were worse. The correlation value between the psychosocial and functional scores was 200.656 (p <0.01). Conclusion: Strabismus in childhood is associated with many negative effects. These consequences should be considered when deciding for surgical treatment on early ages. The strabismus treatment may change positively how these children perceive themselves, resulting in benefits on quality of life from both the functional and psychosocial perspectives.

RESUMO Objetivo: Avaliar a qualidade de vida de crianças com estrabismo e entender suas consequências em aspectos funcionais e psicossociais da infância. Métodos: Uma entrevista semiestruturada adaptada do questionário Adult Strabismus-20 foi realizada com os pais ou responsáveis legais das crianças entre 3 e 13 anos atendidas na rede pública de saúde. Uma escala do tipo Likert de cinco pontos foi usada para mensurar o impacto do estrabismo na infância, do ponto de vista funcional e psicossocial. Resultados: Foram incluídas no estudo 97 crianças, sendo 61,4% com esotropia e 35,9% com exotropia. Em cada grupo, a magnitude do desvio foi classificada em menor ou maior que 30 dioptrias prismáticas. Quando analisados os escores funcionais e psicossociais de cada grupo separados por tipo e magnitude do desvio, a média do escore do grupo com esotropia e dos pacientes com maior desvio foi pior. O valor de correlação entre os escores funcionais e psicossociais foi de 0,656 (p<0,01). Conclusão: Estrabismo na infância está associado a muitos efeitos negativos. As consequências devem ser levadas em consideração quando da decisão por tratamento cirúrgico em idades precoces. O tratamento do estrabismo pode alterar de forma positiva a percepção que a criança tem de si mesma, resultando em benefícios na qualidade de vida, tanto em aspectos funcionais quanto psicossociais.

Relationship of interleukin-1B gene promoter region polymorphism with Helicobacter pylori infection and gastritis.

INTRODUCTION: Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and gastric carcinoma. The severity of damage is determined by the interplay between environmental/behavioral factors, bacterial pathogenicity genes and host genetic polymorphisms that can influence the secretion levels of inflammatory cytokines. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify polymorphisms in the IL-1B and IL-1RN genes and their associations with H. pylori infection, cagA gene of H. pylori, and gastroduodenal diseases. METHODOLOGY: Gastric biopsy samples from 151 patients infected with H. pylori and 76 uninfected individuals were analyzed. H. pylori infection was diagnosed by histology and PCR. Polymorphisms at positions -511, -31 and +3954 of the IL-1B gene were detected by PCR-RFLP, and an analysis of the VNTR polymorphism of the IL-1RN gene was performed by PCR. RESULTS: It was observed that the presence of the T/T genotype at position -511 and the C/C genotype at position -31 were associated with H. pylori infection and with an increased risk of gastritis in H. pylori-positive patients. Additionally, strains from patients H. pylori-positive carrying the cagA gene was significantly related with the T/T genotype at position -511 of IL-1B.  No association of polymorphisms at position +3954 of IL-1B and in the IL-1RN with H. pylori infection and with risk of severe gastric diseases was found. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that polymorphisms in the promoter region of the IL-1B gene (at positions -511 and -31) are associated with an enhanced risk of H. pylori infection as well as gastritis in H. pylori-positive patients.